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Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and
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Pitt b usiness
spring 2012
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joseph M. katz graduate school of Business and College of Business Administration

contents
a message from dean john t. delaney
In sports, in business, parallels abound.
18
6
24
10
2
On the cover
The National Football League’s No. 1 draft pick for
the 2009 class of its Junior Rotational Program,
Jacque Skowvron (A&S ’09, CBA ’09) at the NFL’s
headquarters, New York City, where she works as
a marketing coordinator.
Design
Landesberg Design
Photography
2012 award winners’ photography courtesy of ARAMARK
Corporation, CIDDE, Crane Co., Duke Photography,
Jiro Konami, and PNC Financial Services Group; CIDDE
(pp. 8, 10–11); Scott Cindrich (p. 8); Terry Clark (pp. 1, 4–5,
7, 9, 18–19, 22–23, 24–26, 31, 33); Corbis (p. 30);
Department of Athletics (p. 8); Matt Furman (cover, pp.
22, 27); Howard Korn (p. 29); Kipp Madison (p. 6);
Martha Rial (p. 20); Greg Sailor (p. 28); Tikma (p. 32)
Writing
Greg Latshaw
www.business.pitt.edu
The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action,
equal opportunity institution.
2
1 in Sports, in Business, Parallels Abound
A message from Dean John T. Delaney
2 school of Hard Knocks
A partnership between Pitt’s Department of Athletics and the
College of Business Administration has students developing
marketing strategies for the University’s Olympic sports teams
6 The Legacy That ‘Pete’ Built
John Petersen (BBA ’51) has a track record for being a good
stock picker. His investment skills grew Erie Insurance Group’s
assets and continue to provide opportunities for Pitt students
10 Focusing on the Customer is No Risk At All
Thought Leaders in Business speakers’ forum with Joe Guyaux
(MBA ’84), who by focusing on the customer has positioned
PNC Financial Services Group for growth
14 2012 Business Alumni Association
Award Recipients
Individuals and a corporate partner recognized at the
48th annual Business Alumni Association Awards program
18 Play Time
Undergraduate students show they’ve got their heads in the
game by developing a marketing strategy for NFL PLAY 60
24 In the Game
Pitt Business alumni are making their mark in and
through sports
To
its core, Pittsburgh
is a sports town. It’s the City
of Champions, at both the professional
and college levels.
Pittsburgh has a winning tradition
in something else: business.
You’d be hard-pressed to name
other cities that contributed more
— through iron and steel, oil and
glass — to America’s growth as
an industrial power. Or cities
that showed the resilience and
innovation to transition from a
Rust Belt economy to a futureoriented
one.
I bring up sports and business because of their parallels.
The same ingredients necessary for success on the field are
needed in the board room. I’m talking about sound fundamentals,
teamwork, talent, drive, competiveness, and
learning from failure.
This issue of Pitt Business explores the strong bond
between sports and business. At the Joseph M. Katz
Graduate School of Business and College of Business
Administration, experience-based learning is the foundation
of our education. Our students directly apply what
they learn, so they’re workplace-ready. Our students
collab orate on diverse teams, proving that, as in sports, a
winning team is the sum of its parts.
In this issue, we spotlight alumni working in sports, or
shaped by their sports experiences. There’s Jacque Skowvron,
who works for the National Football League’s (NFL) marketing
department. There’s Handy P. Soetedjo, an Indonesian
businessman who is a co-owner of the Philadelphia
76ers National Basketball Association franchise. And there’s
The same ingredients necessary
for success on the field
are needed in the board room.
I’m talking about sound
fundamentals, teamwork,
talent, drive, competiveness,
and learning from failure.
John Algie, the president and general
manager of a Major League
Lacrosse team.
The issue highlights the deep
connections we have with Pitt’s
Department of Athletics. Nowhere
is this more evident than the
Marketing Academy, a program
that gives CBA students hands-on
experience with Pitt’s Olympic
sports teams.
The issue features a class
project in which CBA students con ­
sulted for the NFL and Pittsburgh
Steelers on the PLAY 60 youthexercise
initiative. There is also a story about John Petersen
(BBA ’51), whose legacy includes not only a company
transformed by his investment skills but also the John M.
and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center, the Petersen
Institute of Nano science and Engineering, and the Petersen
Sports Complex at the University of Pittsburgh.
I know the lessons I learned playing football and running
track in high school have stayed with me. It is my goal
to provide our students with the same lasting impact
regardless of what industry they land in. We give our
graduates the confidence to make sound decisions in a
business environment that’s constantly changing.
I invite you to enjoy the fascinating sports stories in
this issue. We at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of
Business and College of Business Administration face
intense competition from other business schools — but we
don’t back down from the challenge. We are determined to
succeed, like our graduates.
Pitt business | 1

Long before the opening whistle sounds, it’s game on for the
people who work in sports. There are seats to fill, national anthem
singers to find, special giveaways to plan, announcers’ scripts to
write. Even the song playlist must be edited and choreographed.
school of
hard
knocks
The University of Pittsburgh’s Marketing Academy
gives undergraduate students an internship where they do
all of the above. The formal program, a joint effort between
Pitt’s Department of Athletics and the College of Business
Administration (CBA), assigns a student to one of Pitt’s
eight Olympic sports. From day one, the onus is on the
students. They must grab the reins of their team. No one
holds their hands. The students, in short order, develop a
full-fledged marketing strategy aimed at increasing attendance
and improving the fan experience.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” says Justin Acierno
(A&S ’05, MBA ’07), who as director of marketing and
ticket operations for Pitt athletics supervises the academy.
“The students get the opportunity to oversee something
and put their own twist on the sport. It helps us in athletics,
because we don’t have the full-time staff for each Olympic
sport. We need help because promotions and event planning
are so time intensive.”
This year, Pitt teams are scheduled to play in 104
sporting events. Football and basketball may grab the
head lines — and generate the most revenue — but Pitt
offers a total of 19 sports. Don’t tell a soccer player his
sport doesn’t matter. Each sport runs on its own timeline
and comes with its own promotional needs. That’s where
the students come in. Students are there on game day,
handling every detail of the event. They are the marketing
managers running the show.
Rachel Colangelo, a junior studying marketing,
interned for the men’s soccer team, and also helped with
the women’s team, this past fall. Colangelo implemented a
ball kids program, inviting children middle-school-aged or
younger to retrieve balls at games, and also organized
senior nights, a fall funfest, and a leukemia and lymphoma
awareness night.
“You get an awful lot of freedom. With the marketing
plan, I had to think of my target market. This year, with the
new soccer stadium, I had to focus on the new student
market. Before, games were played 45 minutes away,”
Colangelo says.
The Petersen Sports Complex, which serves soccer,
baseball, and softball, opened in spring 2011. Attendance
increased 65 percent. Colangelo’s first game, September 9,
between Pitt and the U.S. Air Force Academy, was her
most memorable.
“I was expecting 400 people to show up, but over 800
people showed,” she recalls. “I was in the press box setting
up when I heard the noise. The student cheering section —
the Zooligans (a play on words combining the Oakland
Zoo of men’s basketball with soccer hooligans) — had out
their drums and vuvuzelas.”
Not Without Adversity
On this internship, you work nights and weekends. Your
shift can go into extra innings. And sometimes your plans
are wiped out by rain or snow.
“The work in sports marketing is brutal in the sense
that the hours are so long,” says Ray Jones (GSPIA ’92,
PhD ’01), clinical assistant professor of business administration
and coordinator of the Certificate Program in
Leadership and Ethics (CPLE) at the David Berg Center
for Ethics and Leadership.
For the past decade, Jones has been the Marketing
Academy’s faculty advisor. He meets with the students four
times through the course of a semester. The internship is
worth three credits. Students must fulfill two marketing
areas: segmentation and promotions. After the season,
they must write a summary report and present it to senior
marketing leadership in the Athletic Department.
“Students use this internship to make a strong case for
themselves in job applications and interviews,” Jones says.
“The students’ marketing plans are not set in stone. They
must be flexible. You have to deal with uncertainty. Things
go wrong, and you must adjust on the fly to make the
campaign happen.”
Indeed, Jones has advised past academy interns with
the worst luck. A student on a baseball internship had
practically every one of his promotions rained out. Weather
Pitt business 2 | 3

“I coordinated all the timers and volunteers.
I was at the scorer’s table or i
like a chicken with my head cut off.”
is the enemy of outdoor sports that have a full plate of
games in March and April.
Many interns have come up with out-of-the-box
solutions to problems. In 2002, Nora Duncan (CBA ’03),
a men’s soccer intern, had difficulty getting fans to come
out for games. This was before the Petersen Sports
Complex opened, when games were played 20 miles away
from campus, at Founders Field in Cheswick, PA. First,
Duncan sent out thousands of mail pieces. No response.
So she created a pen-pal program, which paired up soccer
players with children from a local elementary school. The
result: games became a family affair. Attendance increased.
“The elementary kids were so excited. They just
thought it was the coolest thing. In their minds, it was a
superstar who was writing them letters,” Duncan recalled.
After graduating, Duncan was hired by Pitt athletics.
One of her first responsibilities was to oversee interns in
the Marketing Academy. Later, Duncan was promoted to
associate director of marketing and promotions, where she
orchestrated the game presentation of football, and men’s
and women’s basketball games. She credits her own time in
the Marketing Academy for teaching her the essentials.
The “Envy of Other Schools”
The connections between Pitt Business and Pitt athletics
run deep. Look at the Athletic Department’s sales and marketing
team: many employees earned degrees at Katz or
CBA. It has something to do with the parallels between
sports and business. Teamwork. Drive. Competition. Without
these elements, a team isn’t destined for greatness, nor
will a business thrive in today’s challenging times.
“The relationship we have with the business school is
the envy of other schools. The support that we get is very
unique,” says Chris Ferris (A&S ’98, MBA ’06), associate
athletic director of external relations, Pitt athletics. His
department has received inquiries from other schools
wanting details on the Marketing Academy.
In addition to the Marketing Academy, the business
school assists Pitt athletics in other ways. Last year, CPLE
students developed a proposal for how to grow the annual
Maggie Dixon Heart Health Fair. The event, held at the
John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center, honors
the sister of Pitt men’s basket ball Head Coach Jamie
Dixon, a coach in her own right, who died in 2006 from an
arrhythmia at the age of 28 — just weeks after leading the
Army Black Knights women’s basketball team to its first
NCAA tournament berth.
Katz MBA students have also worked with the Panther
Game Plan Life Skills program to develop a financial literacy
awareness aspect. To obtain financial literacy data,
four former football players with ties to either CBA or the
MBA program acted as consultants, and surveyed current
football players and other student-athletes.
“Our students work hand in hand with our coaches
and administration to make us better. That’s something
we’re very proud of,” Ferris says.
during the meet,
was running around
amy vanderlin
The Marketing Academy was created in 2000. Ferris
says it was the brainchild of Athletic Director Steve
Pederson. At the time, Pitt athletics was growing, and the
department needed to find a way to give each sport the
attention to detail required on game days.
“Steve said, ‘We have a business school here and great,
talented individuals, so why don’t we start a partnership’ ”
recalls Ferris. “From the get-go, this wasn’t a position
where we have had to play ‘babysitter.’ Students have to be
independent, hardworking, and very creative.”
Experience-based Learning: Practice Makes Perfect
Entry into the Marketing Academy is as competitive as
the sports teams the interns represent. Typically, more than
50 students apply for the eight internships that are available
throughout the year.
The academy isn’t for the meek of heart. On average,
students devote 20 hours a week to office work, and must
attend each of their events. Furthermore, students must
volunteer at every home football game and some men’s
basketball games. Add it up, and the workload is equivalent
to a full-time job.
Amy Vanderlin, a junior studying marketing, interned
for Pitt’s swimming and diving teams this past winter.
Armed with a small budget, she ran ads in the student
newspaper, created posters and flyers, and organized spirit
contests with student organizations. Vanderlin’s “Squeeze
into Trees” promotion packed the Trees Hall pool. She
worked with the coaches to coordinate promotions for
when the team needed a big fan lift.
“For my community promotion, I worked with the
Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation. To
raise awareness, the team purchased pink swimming caps
and we sold them to help with fundraising for the cure,”
Vanderlin says.
Vanderlin’s internship had an extra wrinkle. This year’s
Big East Conference Swimming and Diving Championship
was held at Pitt. It gave Vanderlin a marathon assignment
split over two weeks in February, with three days going
toward diving, and four days going toward swimming.
The meets averaged four hours — as dozens of swimmers
and divers took to the pool.
“I coordinated all the timers and volunteers,”
Vanderlin recalls. “During the meet, I was at the scorer’s
table or I was running around like a chicken with my head
cut off.”
Tack this experience onto Vanderlin’s full course load
in the College of Business Administration. Not that she
minds. “I enjoyed the people and the atmosphere. It was
really neat working behind the scenes and seeing how, at
games, everything is on cue down to the last second,”
Vanderlin says.
At the close of their Marketing Academy internships,
students make final presentations to senior marketing
officials in Pitt athletics. The students talk about their
experience, their marketing plan, each promotion, and give
a closing statement on what they thought of the internship
and what they could have done better. Their experiences
and recommendations are passed onto the next intern in a
given sport.
“Success is measured by your attendance totals,”
Acierno says. “Students try to pick two to three days for
each sport and get the largest crowd. They work with
coaches to see which events they want the most help with,
to get that home field advantage.”
The experience doesn’t seem to discourage students
from pursuing careers in sports. Graduates of the academy
have been hired by Pitt’s Athletic Department and gone on
to other careers in sports. Colangelo used the experience to
land an internship with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where she
is putting the community promotions portion of her internship
experience to use by doing community relations work
for the National Hockey League franchise.
Vanderlin also has her sights on another sports marketing
internship. “This opened my eyes to a different aspect
of the marketing field,” Vanderlin says. “I’m looking into
working for the Pittsburgh Pirates this summer.”
Pitt business 4 | 5

the legacy that ‘pete’ built
shrewd investor:
john m. petersen has built a career and a legacy on knowing
a good investment when he sees one.
’51bba
Pitt business 6 | 7

n 1948, John Petersen (BBA ’51) bought
his first stock: Allied Stores, a national
department store chain. Its value
doubled within a year. Petersen’s next
stock purchase, El Paso Natural Gas, a
pipeline through southwestern states,
performed well. Turns out, Petersen
had an eye for smart investments.
With a background in accounting, Petersen joined Erie
Insurance Group in 1962 as the company’s first investment
officer. In 1987, he took a calculated risk by entering the
equities market. At that time, insurance companies primarily
invested in bonds and treasury paper. The equity
gains were huge. Later Petersen became president and
CEO, helping grow the company into one of the nation’s
largest property and casualty insurers. Erie Insurance
Group’s assets grew from $20 million in 1962, when he
joined the company, to more than $4.6 billion, in 1995,
when he retired.
In his personal life, Petersen directs charitable dollars
with a purpose. He is unfailingly humble — only his
generosity speaks loudly. Major gifts by him and wife,
Gertrude, created the University of Pittsburgh’s John
M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center and Petersen
Sports Complex, and endowed the Petersen Institute of
Nano science and Engineering. Furthermore, the Petersens’
endowed scholarships have helped dozens and dozens of
students at multiple colleges and universities. Most are
based on need for students from Erie’s Center City. That
positive effect is multiplied as students enter and contribute
to the workforce.
“I’ve always been frugal, even to this day. We never
had a yacht or airplane. We’ve never desired those things,”
Petersen says. He and his wife have a long history together.
“Gertrude’s the girl I dated since the age of 14. She was
the first person I dated and the only person I ever dated.
We’ve been married since December 1950.” The Petersens
have three grown children.
Petersen’s work ethic was shaped at a young age. As a
young teenager, he worked in a fish house on Lake Erie’s
shores. At the time, Erie was a major fishing port.
Fishermen’s nets were filled with blue pike, perch, and
white fish. Petersen began swimming at age 5, when he
received a “worthy boy” membership to the YMCA. He
swam there for 12 years. As he improved, Petersen swam
anywhere: in boating slips, in the lake, in the high school
pool. He joined the U.S. Army and competed in swim
meets. His abilities in the water caught the eye of college
scouts, including Pitt’s swimming Head Coach Ben Grady.
At Pitt, Petersen swam freestyle, any distance 100 meters
or more.
Petersen sees parallels between individual sports and
succeeding in business. “It’s up to you. In other words, if
you want to get to the top, put the time and effort in,” he
says. That attitude is what carried Petersen through Pitt in
just five semesters and helped him land a job at General
Electric in Fairfield, Conn. after graduating, despite a
national recession.
“All along the way, I saved 10 percent of what I ever
made. And I always invested it. I didn’t say, ‘Oh, we’re going
to get a new TV or take a fancy vacation.’ We went camping
and had great times,” Petersen says.
In February, Pitt’s Alumni Association honored
Petersen as a 2012 Distinguished Alumni Fellow — one of
the University’s most prestigious alumni awards. Petersen,
while on campus for the awards ceremony, joined a group
contributions on and off the field
The Petersen Events Center and Petersen Sports Complex give Pitt athletic
space that is among the best in the country. That helps recruit top athletes and
improves the fan experience. The Petersen Institute of NanoScience and
Engineering is making discoveries that push frontiers at the molecular level.
“the real investing in the economy has to be done
directly in the companies and the systems
and everything that builds that. the stock market
doesn’t help the economy one bit.” john m. petersen
of MBA and College of Business Administration students
for breakfast. “The real investing in the economy has to
be done directly in the companies and the systems and
everything that builds that. The stock market doesn’t help
the economy one bit,” Petersen told them.
To that end, Petersen is involved in nine start-up
companies as an investor. Most of the companies have
Pittsburgh roots. Many are spinoffs of university projects,
including those at Pitt. Many are medical related. The startups
include a firm that developed computer-generated
imaging so surgeons can map out procedures such as
knee replacements, a firm that developed a heart stent
alter native that puts a vein on a spindle and coats it with
a bio degradable material for use by the surgeon, and a
firm that uses a tiny, snake-like probe for noninvasive
operations.
“I’m always reading, always analyzing,” Petersen says.
The students asked him about his investment strategy, to
which Petersen replied, “I’m a stock picker. For tu nately,
I’ve been able to pick quite well. But I had a horrible year
last year.”
Petersen’s gifts have transformed Pitt. Even so, he
shrugs at the notion of being a powerful force in philanthropy.
The Petersen Events Center and Petersen Sports
Complex give Pitt athletic space that is among the best in
the country. That helps recruit top athletes and improves
the fan experience. The Petersen Institute of NanoScience
and Engineering is making discoveries that push frontiers
at the molecular level.
Petersen attributes his success in business to hard
work. When Petersen was growing up, his family had
little money. His father was a fisherman with a small boat.
There were no family vacations, no weekly allowances,
no home remodeling projects — all income was reinvested
back into the business. “My father always said, ‘Provide
for yourself.’ Because of that, I’ve always taken care of
myself. When I worked General Electric and Erie
Insurance Group, I arrived at the office by 7 a.m. and
never left before 6 p.m.”
Pitt business 8 | 9

[ ]
thought leaders
Focusing on the customer is no risk at all.
Thought Leaders
For financial institutions, the line between winning and losing is sharply
drawn on risk. The market upheaval on Wall Street was accelerated
by firms betting heavily on what turned out to be high-risk assets.
PNC Financial Services Group was not one of those banks. Joseph C.
Guyaux (MBA ’84) had a front row seat to the action. Guyaux, in his
former role as president of PNC and head of retail banking, grew the retail core that
safely anchored PNC when rough seas swept the market. He visited campus in
September as the featured speaker of the 2011 Thought Leaders in Business speaker’s
forum, when he discussed PNC’s strategy for how to excel during tough times: a
plan that begins and ends with the customer.
Pitt business 10 | 11
’84
a man for all customers:
is giving pnc customers tools to make life easier.
guided by organizational principles, joseph c. guyaux
mba

joseph c. guyaux
“It did send a message home to us at PNC that said, ‘You do get rewarded
for managing your risk well. Sometimes it just takes longer.’ If there had never
been a recession that might never have happened. But if you believe that
economies go up and down in varying degrees and varying lengths
of prosperity and recession, then you need to be managing your risk.”
Anthropology and the Future of Banking
Imagine adding a half million new customers but
producing less revenue. That is what’s happening to
the retail business at PNC. Like all banks, historically
low interest rates are eating away the bottom line.
Deposits are worth less in this environment.
PNC has other challenges too. There is worrisome
new competition from companies outside the banking
sphere. Slow job growth is holding back the U.S. economy.
Financial regulatory reform is a big unknown. So
what makes Guyaux relentlessly confident about PNC’s
future prospects He believes PNC is well positioned for
growth by virtue of the fact that it builds everything
around its customers. Under Guyaux’s leadership, PNC
has rolled out new products targeting the younger demographic,
such as Virtual Wallet, an online tool that integrates
three accounts — titled spend, reserve, and growth — with
industry-leading personal finance tools. The success of this
segment led PNC to add features to Virtual Wallet aimed
at expanding its appeal to older tech-savvy customers.
“The pathway out is to focus on customers and to
think about our guiding principles: reciprocity, transparency,
and choice. That’s the way out, while we manage our
costs, while we manage our capital,” Guyaux told a Pitt
Business audience of students and alumni gathered in the
William Pitt Union for his Thought Leaders presentation.
The Thought Leaders forum, made possible by the
support of alumni Shekar Narasimhan (MBA ’75) and Ed
Hurley (MBA ’78), exposes students to leading business
thinkers from a variety of industries. The speakers share
executive-level insight into how to lead in today’s complex
global economy.
Often times, innovation is a driving force of effective
leadership. Since knowing what customers want isn’t easy,
PNC leaves nothing to chance. It hired a firm that employs,
amongst others, anthropologists and social behaviorists.
The firm conducted field research that became the basis
for many features of the Virtual Wallet program and its
corresponding mobile applications for the iPhone, iPod
Touch, and Android devices.
“The anthropologists and behavioral scientists went
and observed how people who are Gen Y live their lives
and how they manage their money. What we got from
that was our Gen Y customers don’t think about checking
accounts and savings accounts. What they said was, ‘I’ve
got money I spend, I’ve got money I save, and I’ve got
money in reserve. And how do you fit into my life to
make it easy’ ” Guyaux said.
PNC invests in traditional advertising channels, such
as television, print media, and billboards, but increasingly
the company focuses on social media — and its potential
for providing hyper-specific information about customer
habits. “Where do you think most of our improvement
ideas come from now” Guyaux asked the audience.
“From listening to our customers on Twitter and our blog.
The day after we rolled out our check deposit app for the
iPhone, I went onto Twitter. Half the Twitter comments
were, ‘This is great. I can’t believe it. This bank gets it.’ The
other half were, ‘What’s up with this No Droid When are
you going to update this It doesn’t do me any good.’”
Cyclical or Secular: The Question Going Forward
Guyaux joined PNC bank in 1972. In March
2012, he was appointed senior vice chairman
and chief risk officer. In this role, he oversees
PNC’s enterprise-wide risk management
program, including operating, compliance, credit, and
market risk. Prior to that, Guyaux led PNC’s consumer
businesses, business banking, brokerage, and residential
mortgage business.
In the late 1990s, Guyaux experienced a crossroads
moment. Popular wisdom was that retail branches were
dying. Many banks viewed fee-based services, such as
treasury management or investments, as growth engines
and were willing to siphon retail’s cash to support them.
Guyaux did not agree with that future. He spent the
first 12 years of his career in branches; to him their value
was clear. So as competitors backed off retail banking,
Guyaux went the other way. He pushed PNC to renew its
retail focus and implemented strategies that increased
revenues, and improved customer and employee satisfaction.
Ultimately, its retail core gave PNC a layer of body
armor that other banks didn’t have during the Wall Street
crisis and the extreme downturn.
Even so, Guyaux warns of a tipping point in terms of
banks’ free services. Fifty years ago, customers only had
access to bank branches. Now they have automated teller
machines (ATM), call centers, Internet access, and mobile
access. PNC customers aren’t paying extra for these services.
Instead of shuttering branches, PNC is taking advantage
of self-service trends, giving customers tools to make their
lives easier. “Mobile banking transactions cost us onetenth
of what it costs if customers went into a branch.
ATM check imaging is a lower cost also,” Guyaux said.
Guyaux says he’d like to see his branches do a better
job of demonstrating products for customers. For example,
walking out to the ATM and showing them how to
deposit a check remotely. “I hate to say this, but most
banks — ours included — wait for the customers to discover
it by themselves. Apple doesn’t do that. You walk in
and they start telling you what you might be interested
in,” Guyaux said.
From Brown to the Pipeline Gang
Raised in Tarentum, a blue-collar town northeast
of Pittsburgh, Guyaux was the first in his
family to go to college. He earned a scholarship
to Brown University. One summer, Guyaux
lined up a summer internship in finance. But his father
insisted that Guyaux work for the Upper Allegheny Joint
Sanitary Authority’s pipeline gang, cleaning out riverfront
sewers instead. “It was work there or move out,” Guyaux
recalled. “My father said, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing
up there at Brown. But I want to make sure you know
what you could be doing if you mess it up.’”
Guyaux laughs about it now, but the labor was hot,
dirty, physical work. Not that the banking climate is much
more hospitable. “We are going to face increased compliance
efforts, and we’re going to comply with them,”
Guyaux said.
Whatever the challenges, Pittsburgh-based PNC
marches on. It doubled its size by purchasing National
City Bank, and recently finalized the integration of Royal
Bank of Canada USA. PNC now employs more than
55,000 people. It operates branches in 19 states, serving
more than 6 million customers. “It was astonishing to me
that we were able to acquire National City Bank,” Guyaux
said. “National City Bank was bigger than PNC. So we
acquired a bank that was bigger than us, and only had to
pay about 30–40 percent of our value to get it. And the
reason was, they didn’t manage risk, both liquidity risk
and credit risk.”
PNC emerged from the banking crisis stronger,
because it avoided the pitfalls that stuck other banks with
a glut of toxic assets. “It did send a message home to us
at PNC that said, ‘You do get rewarded for managing
your risk well. Sometimes it just takes longer.’ If there had
never been a recession that might never have happened.
But if you believe that economies go up and down in
varying degrees and varying lengths of prosperity and
recession, then you need to be managing your risk,”
Guyaux said.
To hear Guyaux’s Thought Leaders presentation, visit www.katz.pitt.edu/thought-leaders.
Pitt business 12 | 13

William C. Byham
Frederick Sutherland
2012
Masanobu Tsukagoshi
William C. Price
Joseph C. Guyaux
Christine Moorman
business alumni association award recipients
Recognized for their exceptional contributions to their professions, disciplines,
communities, and Pitt Business, the 2012 Business Alumni Association award
recipients are making a positive impact on industry and the next generation of
business leaders. Please join Pitt Business and the Business Alumni Association
in celebrating the outstanding achievements of the alumni profiled. For more
information about these awards or to nominate an alumnus or friend of Pitt
Business for a future award, visit www.katz.pitt.edu/awards.
Pitt business 14 | 15

2012
business alumni award winners
Joseph C. Guyaux
2012 Distinguished Alumnus Honoree
MBA ‘84
Senior Vice Chairman, Chief Risk Officer,
PNC Financial Services Group
Moorman’s research has been published
in a range of marketing and management
journals, including Marketing Science,
Harvard Business Review, Journal of
Marketing, Administrative Science Quarterly,
credits his MBA for giving him a deep
understanding of finance. Furthermore, it
helped him to understand the underlying
economics of complex business situations
— a skill that leads to more successful
and Journal of Consumer Research. She is decision making.
a coauthor of the book, Strategy from the Sutherland was part of an ARAMARK
Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value, team that took the then-publicly-owned
which was awarded the 2011 Berry Book ARAMARK private. The move created
prize for the best book in the field of
one of the largest privately-held companies
marketing and was the recipient of several in the United States with significant
National Science Foundation grants.
management ownership. Sutherland says
Moorman’s pursuit of new knowledge the structure enhanced ARAMARK’s
can be traced back to her Katz education. competitive position. Fortune magazine
In addition to learning research methods named ARAMARK one of America’s
and business principles, Moorman acquired Most Admired Companies.
more fundamental skills: the ability to
Sutherland is on the board of Consolidated
develop ideas and a deep curiosity for
Edison of New York; is president of
how marketing actions affect customers the board of trustees of People’s Light and
and companies. She credits the school for Theater in Philadelphia; is vice chairman of
teaching her that there is nothing as
Philadelphia’s PBS affiliate, WHYY; and is a
practical as a good theory.
trustee of Episcopal Community Services.
Before joining Duke, Moorman was on
the faculty at the University of Wisconsin Masanobu Tsukagoshi
from 1989–1999. Moorman’s main areas
2012 Distinguished Service Award Recipient
of expertise are in the nature and effects
MBA ‘88
of learning by consumers, managers, and
Managing Partner, incTANK Inc. Japan
organizations. Moorman is founder and
director of The CMO Survey, which collects
and disseminates the opinions of top
marketers in order to predict the future
of markets, track market excellence,
and improve the value of marketing to
companies and society.
Joseph C. Guyaux first joined PNC in 1972.
Banking has changed dramatically since
then, but Guyaux’s commitment to retail
banking hasn’t wavered; it’s as rock-solid
and strategically sound as when Guyaux
began his career in a management role at
the branches. Guyaux was PNC’s president
and head of retail banking until March
2012, when he was appointed to his current
role as senior vice chairman and chief
risk officer.
Guyaux has been instrumental in the
growth of PNC’s retail banking business,
which now serves more than 6 million
customers in 19 states. He has led PNC’s
consumer businesses, business banking,
brokerage, and residential mortgage
business. He oversaw the launch of the
Virtual Wallet online tool. In the late
1990s, at a time when competitors backed
away from retail banking, Guyaux did
the opposite.
Guyaux credits his Katz MBA for
helping him to transition into a more
strategic role with PNC. The business
school, he says, provided him with an
invigorating mix of perspectives and
strengthened his foundation in the essential
areas of accounting, finance, and statistics.
Guyaux, a native of Tarentum, Pa.,
is active in corporate and community
leadership. Among his appointments,
Guyaux is chairman of the board of
directors for the Civic Light Opera and is
a life trustee of the Carnegie Museums of
Pittsburgh. Guyaux is proud that he has
lived and worked in the same community
where he and his wife, Kathy, were born
and raised. His sons and daughters-in-law
and their children are also living and
working in the Pittsburgh community.
Christine Moorman
2012 Distinguished Alumnus Honoree
MBA ‘88, PhD ‘88
T. Austin Finch Sr. Professor of Business
Administration, Fuqua School of Business,
Duke University
For more than 20 years, Christine
Moorman has created research in the field
of marketing and multiplied this knowledge
by teaching MBA and undergraduate
students. Moorman is passionate about
connecting with customers, viewing it
as a key to firm profitability and the free
market system.
Frederick Sutherland
2012 Distinguished Alumnus Honoree
MBA ’74
Executive vice president, CFO, and group executive,
ARAMARK Corporation
Frederick Sutherland is an executive at
ARAMARK, a $13 billion company based in
Philadelphia that provides a broad range of
outsourcing services, including food and
facilities and career apparel services. There
is a good chance that a sporting event,
hospital, university, or other institution that
you’ve visited contracts with ARAMARK.
Sutherland joined ARAMARK in 1980
as an assistant treasurer. Since then, he’s
taken on increasing levels of responsibility.
In 1997, Sutherland was named executive
vice president and chief financial officer,
which makes him responsible for financial
reporting, internal audit, treasury, mergers
and acquisitions, corporate planning,
risk management, investor relations, and
information technology. In 2009, Sutherland
was additionally named group executive
of the company’s $1.3 billion Uniform
and Career Apparel Group.
Sutherland, who earned a bachelor’s
degree in physics and mathematics,
Masanobu “Mas” Tsukagoshi has more
than 20 years of experience in investment
banking, portfolio management, and
international business development. He
heads the Tokyo office of IncTANK Inc.,
a seed stage investor in tech nologies
emerging from universities in the greater
Boston area and Japan.
Tsukagoshi began his career in 1988 at
Bank of Boston’s (now Bank of America)
global headquarters. He traded foreign
exchange and derivatives, led new issue
syndications, and managed the company’s
illiquid emerging market asset portfolio.
Next, Tsukagoshi established a capital
markets unit of Bank of Boston’s Singapore
branch, giving the firm its first Far East
Asia capital market business. He served as
vice president there and later joined WestLB
AG bank, where he was director of
emerging markets for its Toyko branch.
Tsukagoshi, fluent in English and
Japanese, credits the rigorous Katz MBA
curriculum for forcing him to produce
results, both individually and as part of a
team. He’s given back to the school: since
2004, he has volunteered to run Katz’s
popular Japan Alumni Network. It is an
example of his personal philosophy: the
Japanese “ichigo-ichie,” which roughly
tran slated means “once-in-a-lifetime
encounter hence should be cherished
as such.”
Tsukagoshi is a visiting lecturer at the
Research Center for Advanced Science
and Technology at the University of Tokyo,
Kyoto University, and Nagoya University.
He has also worked on various national
and regional governmental projects of an
intellectual property strategy development
program for start-ups and small- and
medium-sized enterprises in Japan.
William C. Byham
2012 H.J. Zoffer Medal for
Meritorious Service Award
Chairman and CEO,
Development Dimensions International
William C. Byham, chairman and CEO
of Development Dimensions International
(DDI), is a pioneer in a variety of human
resources (HR) technologies used by
businesses across the world.
DDI, which Byham cofounded 41
years ago, has a network of 42 offices in
26 countries, reaching more than 12,000
organizations. DDI provides essential
HR training and consulting services that
improve the lives of workers and contribute
to the success of companies.
Byham was instrumental in creating
Katz’s Executive MBA (EMBA) Worldwide
program. He worked closely with H.J.
Zoffer as a founding director. The EMBA
program — aimed at established professionals
— provides executive-level business
instruction and global exposure to key
economic markets. The program is held
at offices in three locations: Pittsburgh,
Crane Co. 2012 Corporate Appreciation Award
Founded in 1855, Crane Co. helped America grow into an industrial power. Crane
manufactured valves, fittings, and specialty castings, and soon pioneered a variety of
manufacturing improvements affecting railroads, elevators, modern factories, even
the modern bathroom.
The Stamford, Conn.-based company is an important corporate partner of Pitt
Business, hiring alumni and students, some of whom hold key positions in the company.
Crane is a NYSE-listed company that in 2011 had $2.5 billion in sales through its
five key business segments: fluid handling, aerospace and electronics, engineered metals,
merchandising systems, and controls. The company is increasingly integrated and
implements Kaizen-inspired continuous improvement initiatives.
Crane’s products are virtually everywhere. Crane’s global fluid handling segment —
its largest business — provides industrial fluid control systems for critical applications.
Its merchandising products include vending machine services and advanced payment
solutions. The company’s products have been used in space on the Mars Rover.
On commercial airplanes, Crane products include passenger seat controls, landing
equipment, fuel pumps, and internal components and systems. The company also makes
reinforced fiberglass composites and a range of diagnostic devices used by the natural
gas, transportation, and marine industries.
The credo of founder Richard Teller Crane, who established the company on
July 4, 1855, is still followed today: “I am resolved to conduct my business in the
strictest honesty and fairness; to avoid all deception and trickery; to deal fairly with both
customers and competitors; to be liberal and just toward employees and to put my
whole mind upon the business.”
Accepting the Corporate Appreciation Award on Crane’s behalf will be Tony
DiFruscia, director of leadership development.
Prague, Czech Republic, and São Paulo,
Brazil. Byham is also a past commencement
speaker at EMBA graduation.
Byham is the author of numerous
articles and more than 20 books. His most
well-known work — Zapp! The Lightning of
Empowerment — was named the best book
of the 1990s in a survey of 10,000 CEOs,
and the book, and its adaptations, sold
more than 3.5 million copies. Over the
years, Byham’s created HR tools such as the
assessment center method, behavior-based
interviewing, behavioral job analysis,
Acceleration Pools ® , and results-based
employee management training and
development.
Byham has a PhD in industrial /
organizational psychology from Purdue
University. In 1994, he received the Tunku
Abdul Rahman Medal: the highest civilian
award given by the country of Malaysia.
At the time, the four previous recipients of
the honor were heads of states.
William C. Price
2012 CBA Outstanding Alumnus Honoree
cBA ’98, LAW ’03
Partner, Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP
William C. Price is a partner in Thorp
Reed & Armstrong’s Bankruptcy and
Financial Restructuring Practice Group
and focuses his practice on bankruptcy,
insolvency, and creditors’ rights. He has
a particularly strong record in the metals
industry, generally handling cases with
assets between $1 million to several
hundred million dollars.
Price was selected a Pennsylvania
Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2010 and
2011. The designation, based on his work
in commercial bankruptcy, is for lawyers
under the age of 40. Less than 5 percent
of lawyers statewide are selected.
Price provides better advice to his
business clients because of his strong
foundation in business fundamentals. This
saves time from the onset, and also adds
value when Price reviews companies’
financials and makes site visits. Price says
his business education also helps him
market himself effectively and stay engaged
in the business side of the law firm.
Price enjoys bankruptcy law because
every day is different. One day he’s involved
in litigation, the next the closure of a real
estate deal. Price represents those involved
in all sides of bankruptcy: corporate debtors,
lenders, trade creditors, and court-appointed
committees in Chapter 11 bankruptcy
cases. Furthermore, he represents clients in
bankruptcy litigation cases.
Price is active in the community. He is
president of the board of trustees of The
Early Learning Institute, a nonprofit that
supports children with developmental delays
from birth to prekindergarten. He is also
vice chair of the Allegheny County Bar
Association’s Bankruptcy and Commercial
Law Section Council. In July he will
become the chair.
Pitt business 16 | 17

Your Homework: Work for the NFL
Pitt business 18 | 919

n presentation day, College of Business Administration
students walk into the Pittsburgh
Steelers’ South Side headquarters, up the
steps to the coaches’ floor, and past the
franchise’s six Vince Lombardi trophies.
Instinctively, students reach for their cell
phone cameras. No — play it cool. There will
be time for pictures after the presentation.
During the 2011 season, the students worked with the National
Football League and the Steelers to devise a marketing strategy
promoting NFL PLAY 60 in Western Pennsylvania. PLAY 60 is a
league-wide initiative aimed at reducing childhood obesity by getting
young fans to exercise at least 60 minutes daily. On this chilly February
morning, the Pitt students are about to make their final presentation. They
set up in a conference room that is normally occupied by Steelers players
discussing Xs and Os. Today, it hosts the students and community relations
officials from the Steelers, the NFL, and the American Heart Association.
The students are here because of the Projects in Marketing course taught by
Clinical Associate Professor Bob Gilbert (PhD ’97). The course connects students
with prominent real-world clients in commercial and government sectors. When the
NFL and Steelers “hired” the CBA class to act as marketing consultants, they got the
real thing. The students modeled their organizational structure after an advertising agency.
They brainstormed. They developed ideas and tested them with market research. They
conducted focus groups with school children and teachers.
Ultimately, the students created their own campaign theme — Make Every Day Gameday—
and brought it to life using an arsenal of promotional tools: television spots, radio ads, print
pieces, social media tools, a Web site, even guerrilla marketing tactics. “The theme demands
that the audience make each day as intense and exciting as NFL game days,” explained Alison
Kretschman, a senior who headed up the students’ agency, during the presentation at Steelers’
headquarters.
Imagine telling the NFL that the theme developed by a bunch of college seniors tested
better than the theme developed by experienced marketing professionals in one of the world’s
most recognizable organizations. That’s what students said about the NFL’s existing PLAY 60
theme — The NFL’s Movement for an Active Generation — and they pointed to market
research from crucial categories to back it up: Does it catch my attention Do I remember it
Do I understand it Do I want to learn more about it Do I like it
Pitt business 20 | 21

“
Programs like this make a real difference.
The fact that it’s coming from University
of Pittsburgh students, they have this
mystique that the students respond to.”
lynda hoffman
Pint-sized People, Big Dreams
The students’ presentation culminated an odyssey that
began during the fall term. Working with the Steelers was
challenging because most of the team’s season is set in
advance. It was also exciting, because students spent time
outside the classroom to execute their advertising strategies.
For example, at two Steelers’ home games, the
students set up a promotional tent outside Heinz Field.
On these cold December days, students formed a “street
team,” grabbing people’s attention with human pyramids,
PLAY 60 chants, an exercise flash mob, and three-legged
and wheelbarrow races.
Students also visited schools in Allegheny and Washington
counties, since one of their goals was to increase
the number of schools participating in PLAY 60. The
Steelers already send players to schools to get kids excited
about exercise. However, when the students surveyed
more than 100 teachers in Allegheny County, they found
that only one-third of teachers could accurately describe
The
Dream Job
the program, but 95 percent were interested in bringing it
to their school.
In December, the Pitt team staged its own in-school
event: calling it a Gym Class Invasion of Elizabeth
Forward’s Central Elementary School. The team created
four distinct exercise stations: hydration, challenge yourself
to a healthier lifestyle, practice like a Steeler, and
exercise bonanza. Children received T-shirts and Polaroid
pictures of themselves with large cutouts of Steelers players
Brett Keisel and Ryan Clark.
That morning, the gym’s concrete walls and floors
reverberated with tiny shrieks of joy — and intermittent
squeaks from kid-sized sneakers. “It really hit us that the
kids enjoyed us when they started asking us for our autographs,”
said CBA student Anthony Gentile. “I loved it. I
wouldn’t be surprised if I had the most fun of everyone.”
Lynda Hoffman, a physical education teacher in
Elizabeth Forward, presided over the fifth and fourth
grade and kindergarten classes that participated. She says
Jacque Skowvron (A&S ’09, CBA ’09)
Marketing Coordinator, National Football League
Jacque Skowvron has seen things most NFL fans only dream of: The
command center at the league’s Manhattan headquarters, three Super
Bowls, and a Pro Bowl. Part of the league’s fan strategy group,
Skowvron’s marketing initiatives aim to grow the fan base and keep
existing fans happy. “It’s really cool that when I turn on the TV on Sundays
or tune into ESPN, everyone is talking about something I’m involved in,”
Skowvron says. Crazy hours are the norm — Skowvron often works
60-hour weeks and travels extensively. Her work reaches the game’s
youngest fans through the NFL PLAY 60 and Punt, Pass & Kick programs,
as well as the community at large through the NFL’s Back to Football, pink
breast cancer awareness, and military appreciation initiatives. Skowvron
suits up on Sundays, too. From the command center, she is assigned to
watch a particular game, keeping an eye on officiating and broadcast
smoothness. “We report to the VP of officiating. We’re his eyes and ears
on every game,” Skowvron says. Last year, Skowvron worked out of the
NFL’s London office for five months, assisting sponsors of a game at
Wembley Stadium. Growing up in Pittsburgh a Steelers fan, Skowvron’s
been able to give her family incredible memories. “Not many people can
give their family Super Bowl tickets,” she says.
childhood obesity is a serious problem. “Programs like
this make a real difference,” Hoffman said. “The fact that
it’s coming from University of Pittsburgh students, they
have this mystique that the students respond to.”
With the Pitt students leading the way, the kids
hopped, jumped, skipped, threw footballs, and jump-roped.
They did pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, and relay races.
Manny Garder, age 5, practiced his end zone celebration
dance, his T-shirt hanging past his knees, the sides of his
SKECHERS sneakers flashing green lights. “Quarterback
is my favorite because you get to hike the ball all the time,”
he said.
Ten-year-old Tanner Rankin’s favorite station was the
passing one. He modeled his throws after his favorite
player: Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“I like exercise because you can stay healthier and live
longer,” Rankin said.
Rookie Project Sets the Standard
The NFL advertises PLAY 60 nationally, but leaves it to
individual clubs to promote it in their own market. The 32
teams draw from their own budgets and use their own
people to coordinate events. The result: a hodgepodge of
approaches and not always enough attention during the
NFL’s frenetic season.
Jacque Skowvron (A&S ’09, CBA ’09) is a marketing
coordinator at the NFL and former student of Gilbert’s.
She approached him about having the NFL and Steelers
be a client for his Projects in Marketing course. First,
Skowvron and Gilbert got buy-in from the NFL, and then
they approached the Steelers. She saw the value in getting
an unbiased opinion of PLAY 60 and trusted the students
to deliver quality work, since she herself completed
Gilbert’s course.
“Your work blew me away,” Skowvron told the
students after their presentation. “The cool thing about it
for you guys, is we’re going to use some of this stuff. It is
something you can point to and say, ‘Hey I had a hand in
that.’ ” Skowvron says the Pitt team did such an excellent
job that the NFL may wish to explore similar partnerships
with colleges and universities in other NFL markets.
During the presentation, the students discussed
their work in-depth. They played a video they created
with Steelers Defensive End Brett Keisel, filmed at the
team’s practice facility. They displayed a variety of print
advertisements, including a campaign that focused on
exercising during each of the four seasons. Their winter
print spot ran in the Steelers’ Week 16 game day program.
The students also created radio ads. One, called “Four
Seasons,” features two kids talking about how the
weather affects when they play.
The Steelers personnel were equally impressed by the
students’ work. “On something that we’ve struggled to
identify, you did a great job breaking it apart,” Michele
Rosenthal, the Steelers’ community relations manager,
told the students.
The students also had digital marketing ideas. Those
include sending out daily text messages or Tweets with
exercise suggestions, or creating a customized Steelers’
Facebook page, which could be promoted by leaving
player cutouts at various locations and encouraging children
to send in photos of themselves with the cutout. The
students also suggested that the Steelers create a PLAY 60
Web site.
Following the students’ presentation, they had time to
snap photos of themselves with the Lombardi trophies.
They were even given a tour of the facility. But the highlight
was when they bumped into Steelers Head Coach
Mike Tomlin in the hallway. Tomlin shook hands with
everyone and spoke with them for several minutes. When
the students told him about their PLAY 60 slogan — Make
Every Day Gameday — Tomlin grinned and said, “I like
that better. I like that.”
Pitt business 22 | 23

in the
Game
From an undrafted rookie fullback turned Super Bowl champ
to a former All-American swimmer and triathlete who
outperforms competitors as a venture capitalist, Pitt Business
alumni apply lessons learned in the classroom — and on the
playing field — to make successful careers.
Marcus Bowman (CBA ’06, MBA ’10)
Assistant athletic director of administration and planning, Pitt department of athletics
Game Day Strong
Three hours before kickoff, Heinz
Field is quiet enough that Marcus
Bowman can hear the sideline’s
grass turf crunch under his feet.
Pitt Athletic Director Steve
Pederson counts on Bowman
to help coordinate game day
activities — anything that needs
done. “My most memorable
moment was the first time I
hosted legendary Pitt running
back Tony Dorsett. He was so
popular with the fans, that it
literally took an hour to walk
him through the parking lots,”
Bowman says. With Bowman,
two days are rarely alike. He
helps with Pitt’s postseason trips,
Title IX compliance, and Pitt’s
move to the Atlantic Coast
Conference. He is the sport
administrator for track and field.
Bowman is also the liaison
between Pitt athletics and IMG
College, the company that
manages and sells Pitt’s multimedia
rights. Last year, Bowman
oversaw planning of Athletics at
Pitt: The Forefront of a Century of
Change — a gala dinner that, with
sportscaster Bob Costas as host,
celebrated Pitt’s long legacy of
African American athletes.
Bowman credits Katz and CBA
for building his problem-solving
strengths. He will never forget
his time as a reserve guard on
Pitt basketball teams in the early
2000s that won two Big East
regular season titles and one
tournament title, and made the
Big Dance four times. “My lessons
as a student-athlete, whether
they be time management, teamwork,
leadership, or competition,
helped me get to where I am
today,” Bowman says.
Pitt business 24 | 25

Hannah Fazio (CBA ’09)
Coordinator, U.S. Open Merchandising, United States Golf Association
From the Runway to the Fairway
If you own a piece of merchandise
from the 2011 U.S. Open at
Congressional Country Club in
Washington, D.C., then there’s
a good chance Hannah Fazio
purchased it first. The United
States Golf Association (USGA)
employee is part of a small team
that oversees product buys for the
U.S. Open, a signature major that
made legends of Arnold Palmer,
Jack Nicklaus, and Ben Hogan,
among others. The team’s
buys amount to roughly 25,000
boxes of inventory for the
championship’s football-sized
merchandize pavilion. “It’s hard to
explain to people how big our
operation is. We set up a major
retail store in the middle of a golf
course, complete with air conditioning
and carpeting,” Fazio says.
Fazio’s job requires more than
good fashion sense. She spends
her offseason scouting apparel
lines and meeting with golf fashion
designers, big names like Polo
Ralph Lauren, Nike, and Adidas.
Fazio selects what to buy,
negotiates pricing, and determines
product quantities. If something is
amiss, Fazio works with the vendor
to correct it. Imagine laboring all
year for a one-week payoff — that’s
what Fazio does. “We have to buy
our product carefully. Even though
our store is only open 11-12 days,
we bring in $10 million-$15 million
of revenue, depending on the year
and location,” she says. Fazio has
never played a full 18 holes of
golf — but that doesn’t hold her
back in work. “The beauty of my
business education is that it’s
so well rounded and applies to so
many different industries.”
Pat Cavanaugh
(A&S ’90, MBA ’93)
Founder and president,
Cavanaugh Marketing Network
and the Crons brand
Goals Are Meant To Be Exceeded
Inside Cavanaugh Marketing
Network’s conference room, the
sales team guts out pushups, their
boss shouting out totals. This isn’t
punishment for missed quotas.
Founder Pat Cavanaugh uses
pushup meetings to motivate.
“Whether you play sports or not,
people succeed by setting goals.
Only 3 percent of people set
goals,” says Cavanaugh, a walk on
turned starter on three Pitt men’s
basketball NCAA tournament
teams in the late 1980s.
Cavanaugh is the creator of a
sports apparel brand called Crons,
based on the acronym, Come
Ready Or Never Start. Crons
supplies apparel and practice gear
for dozens of mid-major NCAA
schools — including Robert Morris
and Duquesne universities — and
also hundreds of high school
teams and organizations. “Most
people have been told at some
point in their lives they can’t get
something done,” Cavanaugh
says. “We define our brand as a
performance mentality brand.
As a player, what motivates you
more Is it a piece of fabric, or a
mentality” This past fall, Crons
became the official motivation
brand of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The brand is an underdog in the
$4-billion-a-year sports apparel
industry — but Cavanaugh is OK
with that. Crons, which also makes
sports nutrition bars and sponsors
youth goal and adversity training
programs, has grown by 450
percent during the past three
years. “The business skills I gained
through my MBA have been
priceless,” Cavanaugh says. “Katz
gave me a well-rounded skill set in
sales, marketing, finance, and
operations.”
Pitt business 26 | 27

John Algie (CBA ’03, MBA ’09, LAW ’09)
President and general manager, Ohio Machine, major league lacrosse
Build Your Own Sports Team
In an age of fantasy sports
leagues, when just about
everyone is drafting rosters of
stars, John Algie is doing the real
thing: creating from scratch a
professional expansion team,
Major League Lacrosse’s (MLL)
Ohio Machine. “There’s a lot more
to it than looking at a guy’s stats
and determining who has the best
numbers,” says Algie, the team’s
president and general manager.
Algie, a former face-off midfielder
at Pitt, is molding a locker room
around team-first, hard-nosed
players, a team built on defense,
true to Ohio’s blue-collar roots.
The Machine’s first-ever game is
May 5. In the meantime, Algie is
drawing on his business education
to build business partnerships and
grow a fan base — a balancing act
that requires juggling the interests
of multiple stakeholders. “We’re a
brand-new company, essentially
a start-up. Ticket sales are our
lifeblood,” Algie says. He is using
grassroots marketing initiatives to
fill seats at Machine home games
at Ohio Wesleyan University’s
Selby Stadium, about 30 miles
north of Columbus. Algie, who
formerly worked as MLL’s director
of league operations, says
lacrosse is the fastest growing
sport at U.S. high schools and
colleges, and MLL attendance
jumped 21 percent last year.
“My business education has been
very helpful in understanding the
potential economic repercussions
of every decision that we make as
an organization,” Algie says.
Mark Frantz (MBA ’96, LAW ’96)
Cofounder, BlueDelta Capital Partners
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Swimming Against the Current
Many times, Mark Frantz pushed
on when his muscles had turned
to jelly and his mind screamed,
“Stop!” Through endurance
sports, Frantz — a former NCAA
All-American swimmer who
qualified for the USA Triathlon
National Championships 10
times — reinforced his business
philosophy: stretching the limits,
outperforming competitors, and
always trusting oneself. “I’m a
firm believer that competitive
athletics is beneficial for other
things in life,” Frantz says. Frantz
is cofounder of BlueDelta Capital
Partners, a Virginia firm targeting
up-and-coming companies in the
federal government technology
sector. His venture capital
experience at The Carlyle Group
taught him to respect the
J-curve: a term for start-ups that
begin with promise, and then
burn cash while growing, before
reaching new heights and
profitability. “As VCs, we coach
and scout. As a coach, we help
the company’s management
perform better. As a scout, we
look for talent to hire and bigger
companies to partner with,”
Frantz says. Though no longer
competing in triathlons due to
injury, Frantz credits the sport —
which combines swimming,
biking, and running into one
race — for keeping his spirit sharp.
“Look, some race days you want
to quit. It’s 98 degrees and you
don’t want to run a 10k after
already swimming a mile and
biking an hour. But you keep
going, just like an entrepreneur
doing whatever it takes,
whether it be deal negotiations,
mundane paperwork, or the
daily brushfires,” Frantz says.

Amy Niceswanger
(A&S ’98, MBA ’03)
Assistant athletic director of development,
Pitt department of athletics
Henry Hynoski (CBA ’11)
Fullback, New York Giants, national football league
From Undrafted to
Super Bowl Champ
The pass-happy NFL is a bear
market for one-dimensional
fullbacks — blockers now have
soft hands and nimble feet to go
with their jaw-rattling hits. Henry
Hynoski Jr. (CBA ’11), a rookie
starter for the Super Bowl XLVIwinning
New York Giants, fits that
mold. “It’s the only position where
you have the opportunity to do
three things: run, block, and
catch,” says the 6-foot, 2-inch tall,
265-pounder from Elysburg, Pa.,
who blossomed under former
Pitt football Head Coach Dave
Wannstedt. Hynoski’s storybook
NFL season began rudely. He
went undrafted after pulling a
hamstring at the NFL combine.
His mother, Kathy, prepared
dossiers on NFL teams with
fullback needs, and Hynoski used
that market research to wisely
select the Giants’ offer. “It was
humbling to be in the huddle with
Eli Manning and some of the
greatest players in the NFL,”
Hynoski says. Number 45 earned
his playing time, and in the Super
Bowl, Hynoski caught two passes
for first downs, and cleared a path
for the Giant’s 114 rushing yards.
In the third quarter, with the
Giants trailing the New England
Patriots 17–12, Hynoski recovered
a fumble downfield. “One of the
best memories of my life is
holding the [Lombardi] trophy on
stage afterwards with my mom
and dad,” Hynoski says. He
credits his business education for
the time management skills that
helped him adjust to grueling
practice and travel schedules.
“Bling is not really my style, but
I’m going to wear my Super Bowl
ring everywhere,” Hynoski says.
A Fan For All Seasons
Ever loyal to the blue and gold,
Amy Niceswanger rides the highs
and lows of Pitt sports. Her
passion — and knowledge — isn’t
lost on donors to Pitt athletics,
the people whom Niceswanger
courts in her job. “They call, in
both good and bad times,
because they are invested and
passionate about our program,”
Niceswanger explains. “I love
nothing more than picking up the
phone and calling them to say,
‘Thank you for your donations,’ or,
‘How about that win last night!’ ”
Niceswanger, in her 13th year on
the job, is part donor rep and all
sports nut. With lots of pep she
runs the Panther Club, the
fundraising arm that generates
revenue for student-athlete
scholarships that last year
received $7.6 million in gifts.
Niceswanger builds relationships
with more than 6,000 alumni
and friends of Pitt athletics, but
never loses the personal touch.
“I enjoy interacting with them and
hearing their great Pitt stories.
With some donors, it’s like
family.” Niceswanger’s business
education helps in the areas of
negotiations, time management,
and team projects. Niceswanger,
a former member of the Pitt
Cheerleaders and Dance Team,
enjoys seeing her work help
young people reach their
potential. “It’s very rewarding.
We get to see student-athletes
come in as freshmen and watch
them develop and ultimately
exceed both their athletic and
academic dreams.”
Pitt business 30 | 31

Handy P. Soetedjo (MBA ’95)
President and director, PT Midasia Capital, and investor in various entities
Hoop Dreams Realized
His Indonesian basketball franchise
owns a record seven professional
championships. Now Handy P.
Soetedjo is making his pro basketball
mark in the United States,
as co-owner of the National
Basketball Association’s (NBA)
Philadelphia 76ers. “It’s a dream
come true. I felt I had a Pennsylvania
connection because I went
to school in Pittsburgh,” says
Soetedjo, a Jakarta basketball fan
and businessman who built his
fortune trading and investing in
coal, oil, gas, power generation,
real estate, and a variety of media
companies. In 2011, Soetedjo and
investment partner, Erick Thohir,
became the first-ever Asia-based,
Asian owners of an NBA team,
joining an ownership group of
more than 10 others, including
actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett
Smith. Soetedjo and Thohir were
chosen because of their strong
record in business and basketball.
They are also co-owners of Satria
Muda Britama of Indonesia’s
National Basketball League and
the Indonesia Warriors of the
ASEAN Basketball League. “We’ve
ruled Indonesia for seven years
now. We’ve broken the
Chicago Bulls NBA record of six
championships,” Soetedjo says.
Soetedjo credits Katz for giving
him a foundation in business
fundamentals, while also kindling
his entrepreneurial spirit. “Before
my MBA, I was a biology major.
Katz opened my mind to see
things in terms of the business
perspective,” Soetedjo says. The
76ers, in the team’s first season
under new ownership, is on track
for its best record in seven years.
Another Soetedjo investment
appears to be paying dividends.
Chris Ferris
(A&S ’98, MBA ’06)
Associate athletic director of external relations,
Pitt department of athletics
Sports Between the Whistles
Seated in a Pitt athletics’
conference room, two floors above
the hardwood of the John M. and
Gertrude E. Petersen Events
Center, Chris Ferris is in the zone.
“Any time we can combine Pitt
basketball with helping the
community, that’s a pretty cool
thing,” he says during a fall
meeting between the Greater
Pittsburgh Community Food Bank,
UPMC Health Plan, and Pitt
athletics. Ferris and his team
spearhead the Pitt Women’s
Basketball Hometown vs. Hunger
promotion — part of Ferris’ larger
mission to develop the advertising
campaigns that drive ticket sales
and to assist with development
activities that spur fundraising and
corporate sponsorships. “The
athletics world is very flashy on the
outside,” explains Ferris. “People
think, ‘I’ll be on the sideline for
Pitt–Notre Dame or Big East
primetime basketball games.’
But there’s also Monday through
Friday, and everything that
comes with it.” Not that Ferris is
complaining. He loves his job and
credits his Katz MBA for making
his to-do-list mentality more
strategic. Ferris recalls memorable
Pitt sports victories, but is most
proud of accomplishments that
happen between the whistles. He
once played a small part in helping
a child, through the Make-A-Wish
Foundation, live his dream of
sitting on the bench with Pitt
men’s basketball Head Coach
Jamie Dixon. “Coach introduced
the child to every section of our
Oakland Zoo, and the students
gave a standing ovation. That
was a day he and his family will
never forget.
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